The misadventures of the necromancer

“What the hell is that?” Nero asks in a tired voice.

Looking at him, Carrion can see that he appears to be referring to the village they can now begin to see in the valley ahead.

“The village?” Seres asks hesitantly.

“Springwell, if I’m not mistaken,” Axe clarifies, being the one who knows the region better.

Nero starts rubbing his face and, with a heavy sigh, mutters, “Where do all these villages keep coming from?”

She can only look at Axe and wonder what situation would make such a comment make sense. The man, however, is either much more accustomed to dealing with strange people than she is.

Or simply better at keeping a straight face. Because she can't get a thing from his expression.

Which makes her think that, considering she has had contact with mages, who are normally quite strange, she should be more accustomed to this kind of behavior herself.

Nero’s two companions merely exchange a few brief glances before shrugging.

For them, this might look like it's just another normal day.

A day where someone complains about the existence of a village that must have been here for decades, if not centuries.

“Will it affect our plans?” Adar asks, who seems to be the most... normal one in their group.

“Hmm,” Nero begins, giving the impression that he is thinking about his answer.

“In principle, I don’t think so. The entrance is at the top of the mountain ahead...” He raises a hand, pointing toward the mountain directly in front of them, the path to which passes right through the village.

They could go around it, but from what she can see, that would add as much as half a day to their journey.

Not a terrible delay.

But considering the past few days of traveling. During which their group has clearly been divided between her and Axe on one side, and them on the other. It is not exactly the best travel time she has had.

Something that only got worse when she had revealed her suspicions about Nero’s identity to Axe as privately as possible.

At that moment, Axe’s face had fallen, turning pale. It was not difficult to guess that, if she was right, the mage was absurdly powerful.

Something that had not improved on their first night, when they realized how casually the group handled security, not even keeping watch during the night.

When they had mentioned it, the only response they received was not to worry about it.

That had not gone over well with either of them, leading them to start keeping watch at night themselves. This left them more tired than the other three in this little trek of theirs.

Besides that, they had agreed that very first night that it would be best to ask as few questions as possible.

Everything suggested that learning too much by the end of this job could be lethal.

Of course, that had made the journey horrible, because nobody dared to talk. It had been nothing but walking, resting, and then walking again.

Only Seres dared to ask a few questions, particularly about magic.

Fortunately, someone always told him to shut up.

“Finding it shouldn’t be as terrible as the temple. But we should still lose a day going around the mountain,” Nero continued with a heavy sigh.

Temple? What temple?

That is the question she wants to ask, but doesn't.

The boys, meanwhile, take on serious expressions.

And she notices Adar beginning to rub his ribs.

Naturally, they understand the cryptic comment, which only makes her even more uneasy.

What kind of people go around messing with temples?

For a moment, she wonders whether this would be a good time to abandon the mission, because she is increasingly doubtful that the benefits are worth the risks.

But would they even let her leave now?

“The main problem is that if there’s a village here, they might have found something. So we risk all this work having been for nothing.”

“Could be?” Adar asks worriedly.

“If I’m not mistaken, the entrance should be in a cliffside. So they might not have noticed it. But considering Inverten...”

The pause stretches on, leaving the other two tense.

“Well, it can’t end that badly, can it?” Seres retorts, while Adar shudders slightly.

Nero closes his eyes, seeming to contemplate something.

Which, of course, leaves her wondering what Inverten is and what happened there.

Nero shakes his head and adds, “In the best case, we’ll have more attention on us if we start operations.”

Operations!?

What could he possibly mean by that?

Something certainly connected to their true plans.

And something they want to keep secret.

She glances at Axe, and he merely shakes his head.

She sticks to what they had previously agreed upon and asks them nothing.

“We’ll go around,” Nero orders, indicating that they should keep walking.

“Or we could go to the village and stock up on fresh food,” Seres suggests.

This earns him a disapproving look from Nero, causing the boy to lower his head.

“The idea might not be bad!” Adar suddenly says.

He receives an unhappy look from his leader before continuing.

“We can always ask around. And find out if there’s anything else near the mountain that interests you.”

A sensible idea, in Carrion’s opinion, and one that leaves Nero thinking for a moment before he nods.

And so they head toward the village.

She can see the satisfied look on Seres’s face at having his idea followed, even if the final argument had come from someone else.

But at that moment, Nero’s voice echoes again.

“Fruit and vegetables. No fish or small animals.”

A strange instruction that has the effect of leaving Seres disappointed and Adar with a knowing smile.

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